This invention relates to web splicing apparatus. It relates more particularly to apparatus of this type which automatically splices and cuts relatively stiff web material such as liner board for making corrugated cardboard. It is designed particularly to splice the leading edge of a ready web of stiff material to the trailing edge of a running web while the web proceeds uninterruptedly and at substantially uniform speed and tension to a web-consuming machine, e.g., a corrugator, printer, etc.
Web supply apparatus which supplies web uninterruptedly to a web-consuming machine is, of course, not new. Examples of such machines are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,305,189 and 3,414,208. While these prior machines are able to handle relatively limp webs quite easily, making a strong, accurate splice with little or no tail, they are not so successful with the stiffer webs such as liner board. Sometimes the splice between the trailing end of the running web and the leading end of the ready web may not take or remain secure all across the web, with the result that the two webs sometimes come apart on the way to the web-consuming machine. Also, at times, the prior machines of this type do not cut cleanly all the way through the expiring end of the ready web, with the result that the splice has a very long tail which may be pulled into the web-consuming machine and interfere with its proper operation.
Another problem with the prior web supply apparatus is that it is difficult to incorporate them into an existing web processing setup because they are rather large and, therefore, cannot fit into the available space. In other words, the web supply and splicing apparatus is just one of a series of machines in a production line. All of the machines in the line are extremely large and massive and, therefore, extremely difficult and costly to move. Thus, many existing web processing setups cannot be retrofitted with conventional web supply apparatus having a splicing capability without having to move one or more of the massive machines in the line in order to accommodate the web supply apparatus.